A few nudie pics. She's our only child that was not totally chubby and covered in rolls by the time they were 4 months... she's our little peanut!

Kaden is just so sweet and loving! He actually always asks me to take pictures of him with Kira.

Another classic Kira grin!

I know I'm totally partial, but this little girl is so stinkin' cute! She really just loves to smile!

Hmm... not sure she's too happy here

This is the classic Kira grin. This is the face I get most often in pictures.

a little scratch on the nose... No matter how short I keep her nails she manages to scratch herself, so now I need to try a file on the edges!

Kira's Dedication

Last Sunday was Kira's dedication at our Church. Our church does dedication of children not as a way to "save" them, but rather for the parents to publicly commit to raising their children to know the Lord. We committed to loving Kira and doing our best to teach her about her Heavenly father and the amazing gift of salvation that he offers us. We pray that someday Kira will choose to have her own, personal relationship with Jesus.

Believe it or not, I had a friend take some pics during the service, but because of the angle and lighting none of them turned out too well...basically translated to, I looked awful in all the pictures! :) So here's a shot of the dedication portion in the bulletin!

QCS Christmas Concert

Last Friday was Kenzie's school concert. She did a great job singing with her class, especially since the concert went WAY past her bedtime! :) I've put up some pictures, but the quality is pretty awful... the lighting in the room was less than ideal for taking any kind of pictures! But enjoy anyhow!

Kenz, Isabel, Helana (Isabel's little sister), Jillian, and Annaliese

All dressed up before the concert

The kids had a VERY long wait in the classroom, but Mrs. Stradling was smart and brought in a movie for them to watch.

Kenz, Olivia, Isabel, and Jillian

Kenz walking in for her part in the concert

I was thrilled that last year's Christmas dress still fit! It was just a bit shorter! :)

Olivia did a great job on her solo part!

Isabel and Elizabeth looking so cute!

Kenzie watching Mr. Swartley (the principal) filling in for a missing memeber of the handbell choir! It was so funny- the kids were cracking up!

The whole gang singing...

Icy Morning

Well the winter storm didn't bring snow, but it sure brought ICE! The kids were amazed to see that every blade of grass and every branch on the tree was frozen. It's crazy how some dead trees and plants can look so cool when you add a little ice to them. Just another reminder of God's awesome creativity!
So Kaden and I took a little walk around our yard this morning after we dropped Kenzie off at the bus (Kira was sleeping inside). These are a few of the things we thought were especially cool (no pun intended!) :)


The holly bushes in front of our house

In our neighbors tree there is an old birds' nest that looked pretty surrounded by all the tiny icy branches

My dead mums that were sitting on the side of the house... they look much better covered in ice...

The sky looked really neat this morning while we were out... The sun was able to sneak through for just a bit.

Kaden made it his morning mission to go around and knock off every icicle that he could find... I snapped this shot before he was able to get to these ones!

Yes, you're seeing RED!!

I am the anti-colored light! BUT this year I gave into the pleading of my eldest daughter and put up colored icicles on our house! I apologized to the neighbors in advance, and up they went. Well at least for one year I was the cool (well maybe not classy mom)!

Kaden's Gingerbread House

This week Kaden and I spent some time making a gingerbread house together. It was a fun time and he did an awesome job!

His favorite part was definitely the icing... I think we ate about a pound between us! :)

My job was piping the icing... he did all the candy!

Even though Kaden is growing up so quickly, I love that he still has chubby little fingers! The rest of him has all thinned out, but the fingers still have that little boy look to them!

Almost done!

The finished product...